Broxton Comment-MB-007-77

L’ASSOLUTO NATURALE (1969)

L’Assuluto Naturale is an Italian drama film directed by Mauro Bolognini, and was the first of 14 films that he and Morricone worked on together. The surreal, montage-like plot focuses on a mysterious romance involving an uninhibited woman (Sylvia Koscina) and a dour photographer (Laurence Harvey), who take off on road trip through Italy in a sports car, having random sexual encounters with people they meet along the way. This type of seemingly arbitrary road movie structure became very popular in Europe at that time, inspiring a multitude of homages that looked at sex, promiscuity, and relationships in a similarly freewheeling way.

Morricone’s score is very much rooted in his 1960s jazz style, and offers a series of soft, intimate instrumentals for orchestra and jazz combo, playing in a series of languid and laid-back ways. There’s not much recurring thematic content to speak of, but several cues do stand out as being especially enjoyable. The title trak “L’Assoluto Naturale” is very much like that, a pretty and summery theme that gets passed around between bass flutes, Hammond organ, and strings. The subsequent “Sempre Più Verità” and is a little more urgent, with a introductory rhythmic section that sounds for all the world like the intro to ‘Come on Eileen’ and a prominent staccato piano that eventually establishes itself as the score’s main recurring thematic idea.

Later, “È Facile” is beguilingly romantic, with a soft flute melody at its core. “Studio di Colore” has a more insistent jazz feeling, repeating the main theme, but blending it with a more toe-tapping arrangement for tapped hi-hats and a muted trumpet. This then continues on into subsequent tracks like “Il Profumo Della Tua Pelle,” “Amare Assolutamente,” “È la Solita Storia,” and “I’Estate è Vicina,” where the rhythmic theme is often carried by a piano, and which occasionally grow to quite impressively fulsome heights.

Only the conclusive “Assalito Dalle Rondini” stands out as being markedly different; here, Morricone engages in some quite dissonant writing for layers of aggressive, agitated, anguished strings, underscoring the film’s peculiar and poetically violent finale.

The album for L’Assoluto Naturale was originally released on LP by Cinevox in 1969, and then reissued on CD several times in Italy and Japan. Probably the best version is the one released by Quartet Records in 2013, which features re-mastered sound, and seven bonus tracks.

Track Listing: 1. L’Assoluto Naturale (3:36), 2. Sempre Più Verità (2:50), 3. È Facile (2:22), 4. Calde Occhiate (1:50), 5. Studio di Colore (1:11), 6. Il Profumo Della Tua Pelle (2:03), 7. Laboriosamente (6:50), 8. Sembravi Desiderare (2:40), 9. Amare Assolutamente (3:59), 10. È la Solita Storia (1:02), 11. Imparare a Conoscere (4:06), 12. I’Estate è Vicina (2:59), 13. Assalito Dalle Rondini (5:34), 14. Il Profumo Della Tua Pelle (Ballata per Organo) (2:17) BONUS, 15. È Facile (Nella Sensualità, l’Attesa) (1:33) BONUS, 16. Assalito Dalle Rondini (Tensione Infernale) (6:11) BONUS, 17. Sempre Più Verità (Sviluppo in Beat) (2:51) BONUS, 18. Calde Occhiate (Sospettoso Erotico) (6:29) BONUS, 19. L’Estate è Vicina (Riflessi dell’Anima) (1:37) BONUS, 20. L’Assoluto Naturale (Ricercare, Amare) (3:32) BONUS. Quartet MS-017, 65 minutes 32 seconds

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